


Better Late than Never

by JoyBooth



Category: Persuasion - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 06:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16320506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyBooth/pseuds/JoyBooth
Summary: A modern twist on my favorite Austen story.





	Better Late than Never

Chapter 1 –

_“Sometimes in the winds of change, we find our true direction.”_

Anne Eliot was average. She was smart, but not a genius. She was pretty, but not beautiful. In short, there was nothing particularly remarkable about her. It was lucky that Anne rather enjoyed the anonymity her mediocrity afforded her. With no great attributes, came no particular expectations.

She came from an upper middle-class family of old money. They summered at the lake house and drove leased BMWs. Her father was the president of the investment company her great-great-grandfather had founded. Her mother, before her death, had been an heiress to an oil fortune.

In the years after her mother’s death, a family friend had stepped in as confidant and confessor to young Anne. Elena Russell had been a dear friend of the late Elizabeth Elliot. Of the three Elliot daughters, Anne was her favorite. Anne’s older sister Beth was too set in her ways to heed anyone’s advice, and her younger sister, Mary, was too empty headed to have so much as a conversation with.

It was the day before Anne’s twenty first birthday and her family was throwing a party, for her sister. Eliza Elliot was not known for her accomplishments, but she was known for throwing a good party. Any occasion was worth celebrating, as long as it made her the center of attention. There were garden parties in the spring, pool parties in the summer, dinner parties in the winter, and even a yearly bonfire in the fall.

The bonfire was hosted at the family’s summer house as an end of the season celebration. There was an open invitation to everyone in the small town of Kellynch Creek. Anne used the event to say goodbye to all the friends from town, while her sisters merely thought of it as an excuse to drink too much and mock the locals with their pretentious friends.

Anne was sitting by the fire with her friend Kendall Smith when she saw him. Through the flames his tall frame was distinctive in the crowd. He was at least a head most of the people around him. His dark eyes locked on hers for a moment and she dropped her gaze, embarrassed at having been caught staring.

“Well, well, Miss I-don’t-believe-in-love, it looks like someone's caught your eye,” Kendall teased.

“I, umm, don't know what you’re talking about,” Anne laughed. “You are the one with harem of admirers.”

Kendall looked over at a group of guys by the lake. They had been trying to talk to her all night, but she had rebuffed all their advances in order to spend time with Anne.

“They are just bored, not boyfriend material, and even if they were you know this is my last night in town,” she shrugged.

“And I am so proud of you! Early admission to Stanford is amazing. You are going to change the world,” Anne beamed, truly proud of her friend.

“Well, it's not as if you won't be off having your own adventures again soon. Aren't you looking forward to heading back to St. John’s in a few weeks?”   

“Of course I am, but I only have a few classes this year and I'm worried about leaving Mary. She is young still, and I wish I could be there for her. Besides, I’m studying history, which means I am on my way to becoming professor, while you are studying political science and will probably end up being the first female president,” Annie said. She had a habit of down grading her accomplishments. A habit Kendall found extremely annoying. 

“My first order of business as future president, will be to get you to talk to that delicious hunk of man candy,” she declared.

Anne blushed. “I couldn't… What would I even say?”

“How about, hi, my name is Anne. I think you’re cute. Let’s dance?”

“Yeah, no.  I couldn't say that. He is talking to the people he came with. I sure that’s his girlfriend,” Anne shrugged, but as she spoke their eyes met again. Again, her head dropped.

“Better think of something to say chicka, because Mr. Hot pants is coming your way,” Kendall grinned. Anne looked up to see that he was, in fact, headed toward her.

“I'm going to go get another drink,” Kendall said, winking as she left the sputtering Anne to meet the handsome stranger.

Frederick Wentworth was bored. It only took a week of staying with his sainted brother to drive him to distraction. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his brother. It was just that after two years at Annapolis, staying in a small fishing town with his brother the preacher wasn’t the most exciting vacation. He agreed to go to the Elliot’s party simply for something to do.

He had just arrived when she caught his eye. She was sitting close to the fire with another girl, but she was the one that made him keep looking, even after she broke eye contact. She was wearing a hoodie and jeans. Nothing in particular set her apart, but there was something about her that caught his attention. She was laughing, amusement dancing in her eyes.  

He tracked her through the crowd as he was introduced to some of his brother’s parishioners. When their eyes met again he couldn’t help but move toward her.

“Hey,” he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

“Hey,” she grinned shyly back at him.

“I, umm…I’m Wentworth. I mean Rick. My name is Rick, Frederick… Wentworth,” he groaned at his fumbling. Clearly all that time as a cadet had done nothing for his people skills, but the girl just smirked.

“I’m Anne.”

“Anne, and what brings you to this lively gathering, Miss Anne?” he asked.

“I live here, and my father said that I had to come out of the house for at least a little while. As hosts we have to at least make an appearance,” she shrugged, pulling her sleeves over her hands.

“You’re an Elliot?” he asked, shocked that she was part of the family everyone was here to celebrate. His surprise must have shown on his face, because she blushed and picked lint from her sleeve.

“I know, I’m not really what you think of when you picture the illustrious Elliots,” she sighed in a way that was more than a little self-deprecating.

“That’s not what I meant,” Frederick fumbled for words. It was true that she was not what he pictured when he heard the name Elliot. The rest of the Elliot family were local celebrities. Their faces were in the newspaper every other day. They were all known for their blonde hair, blue eyes and big personalities. Anne was soft spoken with chestnut brown hair and milk chocolate eyes.

  “It’s okay. I am used to not being what people expect.”

“I’m sure you are,” he laughed. They stared at each other once again, neither quite sure what to say.

“Ask her to go for a walk!” Kendall yelled from a few feet away where she was judging an ab contest between the boys she claimed to have no interest in.

“Ignore her, she loves to stick HER NOSE IN WHERE IT DOESN’T BELONG!” Anne yelled the last bit, glaring at her friend. Kendall just stuck out her tongue.

“I wouldn’t say no to a walk, if you wouldn’t mind the company?” Frederick offered.

“Are you sure? You wouldn’t mind missing the party?”

“I’m not much for parties,” he shrugged.

“Then why are you here?” she asked.

“To meet you of course,” he grinned, giving her a smoldering glance. She burst out laughing.

“Does that line actually work for you?” she asked as she walked toward the path that led away from the party.

“It has been known to... yeah, no, but I wanted to make you laugh, so it did work on that front.”

“Well, as long as you had a plan,” she laughed again.

“I have spent the last few years learning the most effective battle plans. It would be sad if I couldn’t at least make a pretty girl laugh.”

They walked along for more than an hour talking about his time at the academy, her classes and anything else that came to mind. Eventually she led him to the gazebo, that had been the heart of her mother’s garden, and was now her refuge when life got too crazy.

She told him what she remembered about her mother. He told her about the loss of his own parents. They had died in a car accident when he was in high school, but his sister and her husband had taken both him and his brother in, too keep the family together.


End file.
